Station Hill to Halkirk
After some rain overnight, I woke up to a beautiful morning. The sun was shining and the view out of my tent was just stunning.
I rejoined the track, which took me into the woodland. It was lovely and green and there were lots of young trees growing along the sides of the path.
After leaving the woodland, I crossed the moorland (and another deer fence) to get to the trig point on Cnoc Beul na Faire. The ground was soft, but I could avoid the boggiest bits.
Whilst I was at the trig point, the rain started to come in and it was time to put waterproofs on.
Then I took a bearing over the moorland to reach the river. It was nice to walk over the bog and felt like a good challenge to walk on a bearing for over 900m.
I reached the river and walked down it until I reached a track.
I paused for a snack and the rain was definitely coming down now! I continued along the track, until I reached Loch Calium.
A footbridge took me across Cnocglas Water. The river looked so still and dark, it must have been really deep and I was very glad for the footbridge.
I joined a track along Cnocglas Water and towards Dorrery. The track was initially bordered by two embankments which made it feel enclosed, compared to the open moorland that I’d been walking along.
The path soon opened out and became a track. The wide, open views were beautiful.
At Dorrery, I joined the road, and continued along to pass Loch Calder. With the wind, the loch was choppy, but it was lovely to look across.
I continued along the road to Halkirk. The road was so straight, I could see all the way to Halkirk. As I walked along the verges had a beautiful selection of wildflowers. I saw thistles and cornflowers.
I soon finished in Halkirk where Elspeth met me. We then went for a cup of tea in Thurso, before heading back to her house.
I had a lovely evening. We went into Thurso to watch the Thurso and District pipe band play in the street. They paraded into the square, then played a selection of songs whilst marching up and down. They were so talented and all in sync.
This was followed by a performance from the local school of highland dancing. The pupils ranged from ages of about 6 to 17. It was so lovely to watch the girls enjoying themselves.
The dancing was followed by a second set from the pipe band. It was such a lovely way to spend my penultimate evening. It was lovely to see a community that really embraces their culture and was proud of it.
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